Bautista is a very tactical fighter who thrives on the transitions between striking and wrestling. There are fights where he’s danced along the outside and shown off his footwork, and there are clean victories in which he’s relentlessly pressured his foes with pressure and takedowns. In either case, he maintains a high work rate.There are massive holes in Oliveira’s game, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy or safe to capitalize on them. The Brazilian swings almost comically wide at times, and Bautista has a lovely straight right hand. If he weaves that punch inside the swing of “Lokdog,” we could be looking at a very quick knockout win. The problem, of course, is that if Bautista’s timing is a little off, then Oliveira crashes into him with five absurdly hard swings.

Still, I don’t think Bautista should wrestle here. Oliveira is too strong for that and trying will fatigue Bautista, leaving him more vulnerable to the chaotic swings. Instead, Bautista has to keep his guard high, move his feet, and build an understanding of his timing. While doing so, he should be looking to pop Oliveira with straight punches, attack his wide stance with calf kicks, and continual turn him with pivots and direction changes. Between the size, stance and power, there are comparisons to be made to Deiveson Figueiredo. The primary differences include Figueiredo being a much tighter boxer, whereas Oliveira has the more committed kicking attack. For “Lokdog,” this fight hinges on his ability to make Bautista uncomfortable. In a technical point-scoring match, Oliveira is in for a rough time, and Bautista has the composure to follow a gameplan in the face of serious firepower. If Oliveira can unsettle him a bit, however, then his whole game begins to flow. A big land upstairs or even a few powerful kick connections early will help get Oliveira into the driver’s seat, and turn Bautista toward bad ideas like trying to wrestle from his back foot.